The riotously funny Lilly, last seen in Chester's Way (Greenwillow), thinks her new baby brother, Julius, is disgusting--if he was a number, he would be zero. But when Cousin Garland dares to criticize Julius, Lilly bullies her into loudly admiring Julius as the baby of the world.Lilly knows her baby brother is nothing but dreadful--until she claims him for her own. "Henkes displays a deep understanding of sibling rivalry and a child's fragile self-esteem....Lilly is a superb and timely heroine."
在鼠弟弟Julius誕生前，鼠姐姐Lilly是世界上最好的姐姐。但是當Julius一出生，Lilly就完全變了樣，不但把給弟弟的東西收了回來，偷捏弟弟的尾巴，還對它說難聽的話。爸媽覺得Julius可愛極了，Lilly卻認為它很丑。爸媽常常讓弟弟知道它們有多愛它，不斷地小心呵護著它，但是Lilly卻總是和它們唱反調。 Lilly因為愛捉弄弟弟，被罰坐的次數越來越多。而爸媽為了討好Lilly，不但給它好多東西，還縱容它很多事，但是這一點都不管用，Lilly還是一點都不喜歡弟弟。 Lilly學弟弟的行為，不但得不到爸媽的歡心還被責備，它甚至有好幾次都想離家出走。后來，爸媽為Julius舉行了一個派對，所有的親戚朋友都來祝賀，大家也都非常喜歡Julius，不時地逗弄它玩。只有一個人和Lilly一樣討厭Julius，它在Lilly面前說Julius的壞話。這時候的Lilly覺得很不開心，開始反駁說…

For children who are facing the arrival of a new sibling, Julius, the Baby of the World makes for great biblio-therapy. At first, big sister Lilly thought it might be fun to have a new baby in the family. But when her parents repeatedly coo, "Julius is the baby of world," Lilly's mouse hackles begin to rise. Soon the jealousy is too much for her, and she embarks on a rejection campaign that is hysterically funny, but also comforting for siblings who probably feel just as much resentment but would never go to Lilly's extremes. Kevin Henkes, creator of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse refuses to shy away from the truly powerful and sometimes dark feelings of children. Through bright watercolors and handwritten, cartoon-style dialogue, Henkes relishes Lilly's wickedness. For example, she delights in insulting her oblivious baby brother: "If you were a food, you'd be a raisin," she whispers into his crib. "If you were a number you'd be zero." When she paints an elaborate family portrait, she leaves Julius out. When she throws a tea party, guess which baby doesn't get an invitation? But when a visiting cousin starts insulting baby Julius, we discover that the flip side of Lilly's intense jealousy is an even more powerful and lasting loyalty. ALA Notable Book, ALA Booklist Children's Editors' Choice, Horn Book Fanfare Honor List, Parent's Choice Honor for Literature. (Baby to Preschool) --Gail Hudson

本書非常適合讓身為哥哥姐姐的小讀者們閱讀。當家中添了新成員，做老大的心理或多或少都會有點不是滋味，因為父母的注意力通常會轉移到小寶寶的身上，有時候可能會不小心忽略了其他孩子的心情，讓他們的心理不平衡，甚至誤會爸媽不再像從前一樣愛他們。這些做大哥大姐的覺得自己失寵的原因就是弟弟妹妹的存在，因而想盡辦法捉弄他們，也因此而受到懲罰，導致自己對他們更加仇恨。希望看了本書的哥哥姐姐們都能夠體諒爸媽，他們并非不愛你們，而是弟弟妹妹還小，需要更多的照顧，但這并不表示對你們的愛會減少哦！